paralytic, a. and n.
(pærəˈlɪtɪk)
Forms: 4 paralitike, parlatyk, 5 paraletike, -lytyk, peralytyk, -latik, 6 paralitic, (6–7 -litick(e, -litique, 7 -lytique), 7–9 -lytick, 8– paralytic.
[a. F. paralytique (in 13th c. paralitike, Littré), ad. L. paralytic-us, a. Gr. παραλυτικός, f. παραλύειν: see paralysis.]
A. adj.
1. a. Affected with, suffering from, or subject to paralysis; palsied.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1095 Summe lepre, summe lome, & lomerande blynde, Poysened & parlatyk & pyned in fyres. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. xiv. (1495) p ij/1 The Palsey is somtyme in the heed..and somtyme in the membre peralytyk. c 1410 Love Bonavent. Mirr. xx. lf. 47 (Gibbs MS.) Off þe paraletike man lette doune in his bedde. a 1425 Langland's P. Pl. A. v. 61 (MS. U) He was as pale as a pelat & peralatik he seemed. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 67 Morpheus..gart al my spreitis vital ande animal be cum impotent & paralitic. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. ii. lvi. 340 If the Paralitick member do grow less and less..it is hard to cure. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1766) I. 221 He fell into a paralytick state. 1773 Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 17 Aug., An old lady who talks broad Scotch with a paralytick voice. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxxi, He glanced..at his shabby clothes and paralytic limb. |
b. Of a (form of) disease: characterized by paralysis.
| 1890 F. Taylor Man. Pract. Med. 279 (heading) General paralysis of the insane (paralytic dementia). 1948 O. Breland Animal Facts & Fallacies i. 45 The bats also transmit diseases... One of the worst is the frequently fatal paralytic rabies which has occasionally been transmitted to human beings. 1951 Whitby & Hynes Med. Bacteriol. (ed. 5) xxiv. 408 This preparalytic stage may progress no further... On the other hand paralysis or encephalitic symptoms may appear after a few hours (paralytic poliomyelitis). 1974 H. MacInnes Climb to Lost World ii. 33 My first reaction was to telephone our local doctor: ‘Dr. Mackenzie, have you any idea where I can get a vaccine for Paralytic Rabies?’ 1976 Yorkshire Even. Press 9 Dec. 1/5 A seven-month-old baby from Kippax, near Leeds, is in hospital with paralytic polio according to health authorities. |
2. Of the nature of or pertaining to paralysis.
| 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. v. 529 The General, who had sustained a second paralytic attack. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt i. (1868) 11 The unevenness of gait and feebleness of gesture which tell of a past paralytic seizure. 1878 Kingzett Anim. Chem. 53 Paralytic saliva is very thin. |
3. a. fig. Deprived or destitute of energy or power of action; powerless, ineffective; characterized by impotency or powerlessness.
| 1642 Nethersole Consid. upon Affairs 5 Without the strength of that sinew of War, his Cavaliers..can have but paralitique Arms. 1791 Bentham Draught of Code Wks. 1843 IV. 403 Out of extortion and peculation grow inaccessible justice and paralytic laws. 1844 Ld. Brougham A. Lunel I. v. 112 The feelings of the soul, like the nerves of the body, are liable to a paralytic numbness. |
b. humorously. Shaky, rickety.
| 1824 Galt Rothelan III. Physiognomist 132 A mean abode,..furnished uncouthly with..curiously carved cabinets, paralytic tables [etc.]. |
† c. In active sense: Having the quality of paralysing or rendering powerless. Obs. rare.
| 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. IV ccclxxxv, Richard, bound in Paraliticke Chains Vnder a Tirant's Grate. |
d. Intoxicated; incapably drunk. slang.
| a 1921 E. W. Hornung in Penguin Bk. Austral. Ballads (1964) 103 The shanty-keeper he was just as steady as a rock, And me as paralytic as a fool. 1927 Daily Express 23 Nov. 7 Woman at the Thames Court: I was not drunk. I was suffering from paralysis. Mr. Cairns: I have heard being drunk called being paralytic. 1958 [see honkers a.]. 1966 F. Shaw et al. Lern Yerself Scouse 76 Half-dreaming, half-par'latic on me back. |
B. n. A sufferer from paralysis, a palsied person. general paralytic, a sufferer from general paralysis.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 23 Paralitikes ben þo men þat ben siike in þe palesy. 1510 Bonavent. Myrr. Lyfe Jhesu xx. (ed. Pynson) G j, Oure Lorde fyrste forgave the pa[ra]letike his synnes and after he heled him of the bodely palsye. 1641 Bp. Hall Serm. Ps. lx. 2 Rem. Wks. (1660) 77 The Paralytick was..let down through the roof. 1757 Franklin Lett. Wks. 1840 V. 359 A number of paralytics were brought to me..to be electrized. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 857, 25 per cent. of the male and 20 per cent. of the female general paralytics were addicted to drink. |